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President's Letter:
Only If It Makes Sense
By William L. Wright, CCE
Bill Wright, ICFA president for 2002-2003, is a cemeterian and licensed funeral director.
He is vice president of Fairlawn Burial Park and Heritage Funeral Home in Hutchinson, Kansas, which are owned and operated by his family. He can be reached at heritage@msinter.net.
I read with interest an article in the July issue of the National Funeral Directors Association magazine, The Director, titled "Your Future Will Depend On It," written by Christine Pepper, chief executive officer. (As a point of full disclosure, I should tell you that my state of Kansas is not a "choice" state, which means my funeral home must belong to the NFDA if I want to be a member of the state funeral directors association.)
Ms. Pepper mentions right up front that one of her top priorities is to work with the ICFA and other organizations for the betterment of funeral service. Essentially, the article points out that to be successful in the future, everyone associated with or doing business within the death care industry will need to consider building partnerships with others from within the industry as well as from outside it.
I wholeheartedly agree with that assessment, but only if such alliances make sense.
I am speaking now from a trade association's point of view and not from a business owner's perspective. First, for the ICFA to partner or build an alliance with other associations, there must be a shared "philosophy" to a great extent. The business of an alliance is to construct a platform to enhance the ability of both parties to reach and surpass the individual goals envisioned by each partner. In other words, two heads can be better than one when certain key objectives are shared.
The recent events in Georgia and Florida have been a catalyst for more communications between NFDA and ICFA than ever before. We readily participated in two forums set up by NFDA earlier this year because it made sense. Although our two associations have long disagreed on certain issues, our common desire to find ways to examine and respond to these scandals and to restore consumer confidence superceded our differences.
But make no mistake: Differences do exist. The NFDA continues to call for expansion of the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule to cover all sellers, a position the ICFA has long opposed. However, we've learned that the NFDA has also been lobbying Congress to cut the Federal Trade Commission's funding to enforce the Funeral Rule. In addition, it recently testified at a hearing of the Small Business Administration to complain of the burden the Funeral Rule and other federal regulations impose on small businesses. If the NFDA wants to cut the FTC's funding and believes Funeral Rule enforcement is an unfair burden on small businesses, why does it continue to advocate expansion of the Funeral Rule? Now that doesn't make sense.
But it gets worse. As I write this, the NFDA Policy Board just announced that it supports codifying the Funeral Rule into a federal law to cover all sellers. As part of its argument for codifying the rule, the NFDA laments that "The FTC publicly stated for the first time that they do not have enough evidence of abuse to make any changes in who is covered by the rule. Therefore, the only avenue for change in coverage of the rule at this time is federal legislation."
The fact that the FTC has found a lack of evidence of abuses within the industry should be looked upon as great news by all of us! Instead, the NFDA interprets these findings as bad news and wants to appeal to Congress to overrule the FTC. Again, that doesn't make sense.
If ever an organization could suffer from a split personality, the NFDA would be that organization. It cites substantial reasons to oppose the Funeral Rule as it currently exists (arbitrary enforcement, burden on small businesses), yet NFDA not only wants it expanded, but to turn the rule into a federal statute where it would become a political football subject to constant amendment efforts year after year by Congress. Codification of the Funeral Rule would be detrimental to all businesses in our profession.
I am truly perplexed by the actions of the NFDA. I know that I am on my soapbox, but their policies are not coherent, as if their positions are decided by a public relations department instead of by experienced regulatory and legislative professionals. Regardless, the fact remains that if alliances are to be developed between our trade associations, there must be a meeting of minds on major issues facing our members. If and until the NFDA can get its act together, see the "big picture" and understand the detrimental long-term consequences of the positions it now advocates, I don't see how an ICFA-NFDA alliance will be anything more than window dressing. For the ICFA to act otherwise would jeopardize our members' future at the expense of some public relations "brownie points." In that sense, to borrow a phrase from Ms. Pepper's article, "Your Future Will Depend On It."
Remember, I invite comments, pro or con, from any and all who have an opinion. I will always be an ICFA ambassador and am so very honored to be your president. Keep those cards and letters coming.
Copyright ICFA 2002
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